It was the most back breaking thing I have ever done," said Shelley Smith, creator of the metal flower garden in Lillian.

View full sizeA flower garden made from metal 55-gallon oil drums was created as a tribute to the 27 people killed in Newton, Conn., on Dec. 14. (Thyrie Bland/tbland@al.com)

LILLIAN, Alabama - The idea came to Shelley Smith two days before Christmas and nine days after a mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

It just popped in her head while in bed at 6 a.m. that she needed to do something to honor the 27 people killed in Newtown on Dec. 14.

Smith, 40, of Perdido Beach, decided to create a flower garden for the shooting victims but not a traditional one — one made from 55-gallon metal oil drums.

"I don't know if I really believe in divine intervention or something," said Smith, a metal sculptor "Literally, it was just the first thought I had. I had not thought about it the day before. I just needed to do something. Christmas is such a time for children, and here this is just so devastating."

A dedication ceremony for the garden is planned for 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The garden is in Lillian next to Lillian's Café and Coffee House, 33925 U.S. 98. The public is invited.

The Sandy Hook shooting is one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. Adam Lanaza, 20, fatally shot 20 children, four teachers, the school's principal and the school psychologist before taking his own life. He also shot and killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, 52, at the home they shared before going to the school.

Smith named the garden Kindergarten because of the word's literal German translation — children's garden.

"I know of many people that cried for weeks about this," said Kim Silsbee, 31, co-owner of Lillian's Cafe. "It was very hard on all of us to think of innocent little children being killed. Hopefully, it can be somewhere we can get a little closure and come and visit."

Jon Cook, 40, of Orange Beach, grew up in Connecticut. He is a musician and plans to play at Saturday's ceremony.

"Having grew up there and knowing Shelley, I think it's a great tribute to what has happened over there," he said. "Any little part that will help in the healing... needs to be done."

View full sizeShelley Smith, 40, a metal sculptor, created the metal flower garden in Lillian that is a memorial to the 27 people in Newtown, Conn. on Dec. 14.

Smith started work on the project Dec. 23 in the parking lot of the cafe. She created 27 roses, daisies and calla lilies, one flower for each of the Newton shooting victims.

Smith also made a bird that looks as if it is flying over the garden.

She had a friend's daughter, Anna Lundgreen, 13, to write the victims' names on a sign.

"It's done by a child, so it has a very child-like look to the sign," Smith said. "I didn't want it to be some adult making it perfect."

About Shelley Smith

Shelley Smith, 40, of Perdido Beach, is a metal sculptor. The Greenwood, Miss., native earned a degree in philosophy from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn., in 1993. For 15 years, Smith lived in Savannah, Ga., where she ran a bar — Venus De Milo — and two restaurants — Eos and Sol. Smith decided to give up her business ventures and moved to the Gulf Coast two years ago to pursue her dreams of being an artist. Luckily, she had taken a sculpting class in college and learned to use an acetylene torch. She now earns a living turning metal oil drums into pieces of art with a torch. For more about Smith, visit her Facebook page.

Smith worked on the project for 25 1/2 hours over three days — Dec. 23, 24 and 26. She cut the barrels with an acetylene torch, used an anvil and a large hammer to shape the metal and welded the metal flowers to rebar. The bird was welded to two metal rods.

"The first flower I started I have to say I was like, 'Oh, my God. What am I doing? It was the most back breaking thing I have ever done. I make sort of big stuff, but this by far was the most difficult thing I probably have ever done."

As Smith worked, others to decided to help her. Timmy Wilkerson of Lillian became Smith's assistant, joining her every day. Black-Eyed Susies in Lillian donated some metal barrels. George Silsbee, 33, co-owner of the cafe, helped dig holes and secure the rebar and rods that the bird and flowers are attached to in the ground with concrete.

"A lot of people really pitched in to help out when they saw what was going on," Smith said. "It was something that I wasn't expecting to be apart of the process, but it was really refreshing. "They were like, 'Oh, you need help. Let me go get something."

Smith said she wanted to create a garden because she thinks of it as place where people go to gather their thoughts and find peace. She said her work on the garden helped her to work through some of her feelings about the shooting.

"The very last day it was really kind of cheesy," she said. "I'm finishing up one of the flowers. I am not this kind of girl, but I was so tired I literally almost was crying. It literally kind of hit me that it was almost finished."